ACE director shares his story with school board

Anthony Garzilli

Wednesday

May 11, 2011 at 10:24 AM

In an effort to give Jasper County's school board his side of the recent allegations facing Beaufort-Jasper Academy For Career Excellence, ACE director J. Christopher Dinkins wrote a letter to the board, dated April 12.An unsigned letter from "Concerned BJACE Employees," dated March 28, was sent to ACE board members, media and "other governing interests" and listed 62 items of concerns.In Dinkins' letter to the school board, he notes the March 28 letter might have been written by a "small number of people," some who may no longer be ACE employees.Dinkins' letter addresses financial, personnel and policy concerns.Five of the allegations relate to funds withdrawn from employees' paychecks, but not posted to retirement accounts on time, but Dinkins' letter states that although postings to individual accounts were delayed, "all monies deducted from employee paychecks were sent monthly to the South Carolina Retirement Systems as prescribed by law....a mid-year audit will reveal no impropriety or illegal activity."Dinkins' letter notes personnel changes were necessary to reduce non-instructional overstaffing and eliminate ineffective positions. According to the letter, each position ACE has filled since 2009 has been posted or advertised prior to interviewing candidates. The letter notes "it is clear personnel confidentiality was not a high priority in prior years. Employee professional and H.R. data was openly discussed as common knowledge," but those are no longer common practices.According to Dinkins' letter, the 2010-11 fiscal year's goals were slowed by an unexpected retirement, Internet and communication challenges and the extended renovation period."Time that typically would have spent conducting classroom observations, was spent in renovation team meetings or discussing information technology logistics for the new building," the letter notes.Dinkins said he plans to rewrite job descriptions and realign duties to provide an equitable workload for each non-instructional staff member.He will evaluate the role of assistant director to create a more effective leadership role."Our team has trust issues," Dinkins wrote, but notes ACE will become a "unified team with one clear direction and one clear focus."Dinkins, who was hired as ACE's director in July 2009, attended Monday's school board meeting and said it was important to give the board his story."They were given information that told one side of the story, so I wanted them to get a little more insight," he said.Dinkins said the complaints, which have led to an investigation, have been a distraction."It's a weight," he said. "I'd be lying if I said it's not been a distraction."Despite the turmoil, Dinkins said he's received support, noting people "have made it a point to say, 'We like what we are doing,' " and he's looking forward to the future."We still have plenty of things to do next year."

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